I had a crazy and very brave 5 minutes this year and put my name down on the X Factor website for an audition. All you had to do was put your down name and you get one, you don't have to be able to prove you can sing at this point. After getting a letter regarding the audition to be held in May 2009, I still wasn't sure if I would go or not, right up until a few days beforehand! I wasn't very well prepared or serious about it but decided to go along anyway for the experience so I booked the day off work and went, with the encouragement of my folks and my boss and work colleagues! Initially, when I had put my name down, I just thought it would be good to meet Simon Cowell!! LOL. It was only afterwards that I discovered from Daniel Evans who went through the whole experience that you have to get through about 2 or 3 auditions first before you get to meet him!
Anyway, I did go in the end - I kinda forced myself to as I didn't 100% feel like it, for various reasons, but this is how it went:-
A friend in Ipswich, Carina Pereira, came and stayed at mine the night before so that we could go together. My good friend, Melissa, had kindly offered to come along and to drive from my house to her work place in Chelmsford, leave the car there, where we would get the train to Stratford in East London and then the tube to the O2 Arena where the auditions were being held. After getting to sleep around 11 and getting up at 5 we set off from my house at about 5.30 am, far too early for my liking! lol. We had to be there by 9 at the latest but the earlier the better! Some people actually camp out there all night to be first in the queues! After an ok journey (apart from the scary drunk man on the tube that was shouting very loudly at the people next to him - oh how I don't miss those aspects of London LOL!) we got there (safely!) around 8.30 am and joined the queue.
Carina had already done this last year and had got there at about 5 am and gone into the building at 9 am and her audition was over at about 11 am, not bad going we thought. So, we figured that as we hadn't got there as early as 5, we would be probably be done by about 2 or 3 at the latest. Boy were we wrong! LOL. We stood outside in the queue with big, heavy bags containing food, drinks and all kinds of other things that women tend to carry around with them, which was a big mistake, because they made us ache and hurt, as you couldn't always put them down if the queues were moving. Anyway, the weather was dry and hot which was good in one way but difficult in another, as they had us jumping around doing what felt like an aerobic workout and marathon in it! They did about two hours worth of filming whilst we were queuing, involving us shouting various things and jumping up and down and waving and screaming and doing the X with our arms etc and moving the X Factor flag (like a big sheet) back and forward amongst the crowds. After doing some of this, Dermot O'Leary arrived and we did a load of filming with him too. Loud music was playing during most of this. It was great fun at first, and we all got into the spirit of it all, but it became tiring and a nuisance after a while, especially repeating the same things over and over again. It was a bit excessive!
Anyway, I did go in the end - I kinda forced myself to as I didn't 100% feel like it, for various reasons, but this is how it went:-
A friend in Ipswich, Carina Pereira, came and stayed at mine the night before so that we could go together. My good friend, Melissa, had kindly offered to come along and to drive from my house to her work place in Chelmsford, leave the car there, where we would get the train to Stratford in East London and then the tube to the O2 Arena where the auditions were being held. After getting to sleep around 11 and getting up at 5 we set off from my house at about 5.30 am, far too early for my liking! lol. We had to be there by 9 at the latest but the earlier the better! Some people actually camp out there all night to be first in the queues! After an ok journey (apart from the scary drunk man on the tube that was shouting very loudly at the people next to him - oh how I don't miss those aspects of London LOL!) we got there (safely!) around 8.30 am and joined the queue.
Carina had already done this last year and had got there at about 5 am and gone into the building at 9 am and her audition was over at about 11 am, not bad going we thought. So, we figured that as we hadn't got there as early as 5, we would be probably be done by about 2 or 3 at the latest. Boy were we wrong! LOL. We stood outside in the queue with big, heavy bags containing food, drinks and all kinds of other things that women tend to carry around with them, which was a big mistake, because they made us ache and hurt, as you couldn't always put them down if the queues were moving. Anyway, the weather was dry and hot which was good in one way but difficult in another, as they had us jumping around doing what felt like an aerobic workout and marathon in it! They did about two hours worth of filming whilst we were queuing, involving us shouting various things and jumping up and down and waving and screaming and doing the X with our arms etc and moving the X Factor flag (like a big sheet) back and forward amongst the crowds. After doing some of this, Dermot O'Leary arrived and we did a load of filming with him too. Loud music was playing during most of this. It was great fun at first, and we all got into the spirit of it all, but it became tiring and a nuisance after a while, especially repeating the same things over and over again. It was a bit excessive!
Anyway, after standing, queuing, filming and wearing us out and being desperate for the loos, but there not being any, and not being able to get out of the queue, they finally let us into the building at about 1pm - a total of 4.5 hours outside waiting. Once inside we had to wait again and get in queues and were then seated in the O2 arena which was huge! We were all pretty exhausted by this point and glad to sit down, when we were told that we were going to do all the filming again inside, the same as we had done outside, which we were really delighted and enthusiastic about as you can imagine!!! LOL. Not everyone was co-operative and they got a bit stroppy with us, saying that if we were to get through that we would have to work really hard and that that would be exhausting too. After another hour of it, we finally got to sit down.
They started the auditions at 2pm and it took hours for the first section which was in the middle at the bottom to be completed. The auditions were held on the stage behind screens that had been put on on there - I think there were about 22 in all. We waited to see if they would then move up to us as we were behind and up from the first section, or if they would start at the left corner and move around to us as we were in the centre section. We had hoped for the latter as we could see that if not, it was going to be hours and hours before they got to us!! Yep, you guessed it, that was the case!! By this point I had a stinking headache from being up early, from not really eating and drinking as I didn't feel like it, and from the aerobic workouts we had done all morning! LOL. I felt really tired and wasn't sure I was going to be up to hanging around until very late and then auditioning. However, a kind lady gave me some painkillers and after about an hour and then eating and drinking I began to feel better.
Whilst queuing outside we had spotted Julian Green from the Ipswich Stake also but weren't able to get close enough to get his attention and speak to him. However, once inside we saw he was in the same section as us but ahead of us and so we were able to speak to him. It was great to bump into someone else that we knew there and we all went out for rehearsals a few times in front of each other, which I felt very awkward and embarrassing and silly doing! LOL.
Melissa had to leave us there in the end as we hadn't anticipated it would take so long and her husband, Chris had forgotten his keys and was going to be home from work soon. We met lots of interesting people and heard lots of people singing.
Anyway, eventually at about 9.30 pm it was time for myself and Carina to have our auditions, tired and definitely not at our best, we gave it a shot but it didn't go too well and we both got turned down. We had to prepare one verse and one chorus and I hadn't even finished my bit when she stopped me and said no sorry! Julian got a no too and so went home. Carina and I got someone to take a picture of the two of us, chatted to a few more people then left and got a train home and Carina's Dad picked us up from Colchester I think it was and dropped me home first before going home. It was very late and we were very tired.
The only audition I have ever done in my life (that I can remember anyway) was in secondary school, for the school choir, which, although terrified, I got through, and though I had sung at various church events in front of people, they are always very complimentary, encouraging and positive and so even though it's really hard being up in front of people, it's worth it and you get a real buzz and confidence boost from it afterwards. However, auditioning is a totally different story, standing in front of someone, feeling like a lemon, not knowing what to do with yourself, how to stand etc, someone who will be watching and judging you, it's a whole different story! LOL.
We noticed that a lot of people who were really eccentric and dressed in crazy costumes eg wearing a chicken on the head (not a real one lol) etc got through and those that had either really powerful, loud voices that we could hear right at the back of the arena from the stage where the auditions were, got through, but many people who had good voices who we had heard sing didn't. I think maybe for the most part you have to be pretty exceptional or pretty awful to get through, with not as many people in the middle getting through, some, but not loads. They had a Yes and a No exit so we could see who was getting through and who wasn't.
Would I do it again, at the time I said I wouldn't, because I didn't like the way it was done and it was all too much ie exhausting, and I felt like you have to put a lot in in the way of time, effort and expense, but get absolutely nothing in return, apart from the experience of the day that is, but then found myself putting my name down again on the website again this year a month or two ago I think it was (I am finishing this blog in April 2010!), I have just got an e-mail regarding an audition but they are holding them on Sunday this year so unless there is an alternative date, I doubt I will be following it through. I still want to meet Simon Cowell though and have found out that there may be another way, so I will be looking into that once the X Factor live shows start again this year!
